How to know if I can physically and psychologically handle medical training?

[pms_testosterone]

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(Sorry for the slightly dramatic title.)

I am academically qualified for medical school, but reading the wall-to-wall horror stories in here about the long hours and stresses of med school and residency has me struggling with my decision to apply. It's hard to really gauge what an experience will be like without actually being in it, so is there any way to test or figure out if I will be able to undergo medical training without damaging my health or feeling sick the whole time?

Reasons why I'm worried:
- I'm a low-energy person; the few people I know who were accepted to med were definitely high-energy and extroverted
- Feel tired if I only sleep for 8 hours, usually sleep for 12 h at least once a week to catch up
- In my previous working life, working more than about 50 hours/week would make me start to feel ill.
- If I worked a 13-hour shift, I'd be fine during, but I certainly wouldn't be able to work one again the next day.

I have no significant time commitments outside of my chosen career, so my only concern with regards to medicine's time commitment is my health.

 

[DokterMom]

Valid concerns... Have you had a thorough medical evaluation? And do you exercise regularly? Good sleep hygiene?
You certainly don't have to be an extrovert, but there will be back-to-back-to-back 13+ hour days

 

[pms_testosterone]

I have been medically evaluated, and all known medical issues are controlled. My sleep and exercise patterns could be better, could be worse.
What strategies do you use to stay awake and competent for back-to-back long days? I'm sure I would be absolutely stupid at the end of the second day.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

What strategies do you use to stay awake and competent for back-to-back long days? I'm sure I would be absolutely stupid at the end of the second day.

Coffee and willpower.

 

[educ8r]

You can't know for sure.
One does get used to the schedule over time.
During the third and fourth years of med school and for three to seven years of residency training you'll work 80 hour weeks. That doesn't include reading, preparation, or time on call at home. There might be some specialties that require less, or you might have some months that are less work, but you should expect 80 hours. You would be expected to be able to work 13 hour shifts x 6 days per week (78 hours), or, with the new work hour rules, you can have up to 28 hour shifts followed by 8-10 hours at home then up and do it again.
You might be able to get close to 8h sleep every night you aren't on call. Probably 6h is more realistic. You can sleep 12h if you want to on your 1 "day" off per week (which is really usually just 24h off). Flipping nights and days can be tough, but you'll figure out what techniques work for you.
You don't have to be "high energy and extroverted" to be successful in medicine. But you do need to be able to use logic at 4am when you've been up for 20+ hours. Most people can, answers will just come a bit slower.
If you love what you do, you don't notice the time slipping by. Even if you don't love it but are busy (which you will be), the time really does fly.
How about putting yourself on a strict sleep schedule for a while - bed at 12, up at 6, rinse, and repeat. Do interesting things during the day. If you can do that, I bet you'd be able to handle medicine.

 

[Gauss44]

Not in medical school yet, but I suspect that it will depend on how efficiently you work, learn, and memorize. In some of my classes, one person will study for days, the next person will cram for a few hours for similar results.

 

[Levo]

It's surprising how adaptable humans are. My very first day on the wards, I worked for a little under 12 hours, and was exhausted by the end of it. Towards the end of third year, I was seeing patients for 26-28 hours nonstop on overnight general surgery + trauma call. After that 12 hours shifts were a breeze. When we need to, we can push ourselves a lot harder than we think.

Not in medical school yet, but I suspect that it will depend on how efficiently you work, learn, and memorize. In some of my classes, one person will study for days, the next person will cram for a few hours for similar results.

This is true for the first two years. Third and fourth year, the time you're expected to spend in the hospital is the time you're expected to spend in the hospital, there's no getting around it. You can cut out a few hours a week by being super efficient about doing your notes and slipping out as early as the situation allows, but it's largely out of your control.

 

[darmalee]

I think that you have legitimate reasons to be nervous about it if you have already identified these struggles. I agree that when you really love what you do the time flies and you're able to do things you wouldn't normally think you could do. However, I would wager that even if you're super passionate about medicine, there will be periods of training that you do not love, likely more than a couple. Burnout is a real issue, even in medical school, and I think that if you already know that you find yourself feeling ill working more than 50 hours a week and don't know that you could do 13 hour days back to back, you may very well be saving yourself a lot of heartache if you do not pursue this path.

That being said - the fact that you have identified these issues ahead of time means that you have time to develop coping mechanisms and strategies to combat problems that you know you'll run into. Some of the suggestions about trying to put yourself on a schedule now may be helpful, although I will caution you that there is a definite psychological component that goes into your training days beyond being physically awake and I personally found some of my rotations more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting. But it's a good place to start if you're trying to figure out if you're physically up for the challenge.

I will also agree with the several other people who have said that you do not need to be a high energy extrovert to be successful in medicine. All sorts of personalities in medicine. For sure.

 

[hunterjumper14]

Coffee and willpower.

This. 👍

 

[pms_testosterone]

So I tried @educ8r 's good advice on 18-hour days, and only made it 3 days. Day 4 I gave up and went to bed early, and day 5 (when I was back to normal sleeping hours!) I fell asleep at my volunteer job - while talking to someone. Was also yawning a lot over the 5 days and had tension-type headaches almost every day (usually I rarely get headaches).
How do you avoid yawning in front of a patient?? Why does it take superhuman wakefulness abilities to do a fairly common job? Guys, it's hard to get my mind around this.

 

[Blessthefall]

So I tried @educ8r 's good advice on 18-hour days, and only made it 3 days. Day 4 I gave up and went to bed early, and day 5 (when I was back to normal sleeping hours!) I fell asleep at my volunteer job - while talking to someone. Was also yawning a lot over the 5 days and had tension-type headaches almost every day (usually I rarely get headaches).
How do you avoid yawning in front of a patient?? Why does it take superhuman wakefulness abilities to do a fairly common job? Guys, it's hard to get my mind around this.

Your pineal gland must run on windows 95...

 

[Stumpyman]

5 days really isn't long enough of a trial. I really think (health-permitting) you should try the altered sleep schedule for at least 6-8 weeks. In high school I used to sleep at least 10 hours a night. Afterwards I went through a point in life where I only had time for ~4.5-5.5 hours a night (6ish months). It was awful for 3 weeks or so, but I got quite used to. I now function best with 5.5-6 hrs of sleep (anything more and I'm actually groggy/lower energy).

Another thing that helped me was having a solid level of cardiovascular fitness. Running/exercising has always improved my energy levels - if that's possible I suggest trying it.